Transport

ARTICLES ABOUT TRANSPORT BY DATE - PAGE 2

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - General Motors Co knew about the link between faulty ignition switches and air bag failures since at least November 2009, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said on Friday, citing GM for breaking the law and failing to meet public safety obligations. In a news conference announcing a record $35 million penalty against GM, Foxx also said the Obama administration wants the ceiling for such fines against automakers that fail to quickly report safety problems raised to $300 million.

His Facebook profile is posted under the alias “Rico Finally Paid” and depicts Tyrelle Lockett posing in full pimp regalia, flashing handguns and waving wads of cash. Federal authorities say the profile was no act. Lockett, 21, of south suburban Dolton, was arrested this week and charged with running a sex trafficking business in the Chicago area, transporting young girls across state lines to perform commercial sex acts from March 2012 to October 2013. According to a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday, Lockett instructed the girls on how to interact with clients, gave them false names and fake IDs, bought hair extensions, manicures, clothing and food for them, and advertised their services by posting suggestive photographs and information on various websites.

TARRYTOWN, New York (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama appeared at an aging New York bridge on Wednesday to chide the U.S. Congress for failing thus far to approve transportation legislation for urgently needed road projects. Speaking over the steady hum of traffic at the Tappan Zee bridge, about 20 miles north of New York City, Obama also said his administration plans to accelerate approvals for infrastructure projects across the country. With Congress facing a big fight on how to replenish a federal fund for road construction, Obama urged lawmakers to pass a transportation bill to pay for an estimated 112,000 highway projects and 5,600 transit projects under way this year.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel accepted free transportation, sports tickets and a stay as a house guest from friends and political supporters last year, but the number of gift givers was fewer than in years past. The mayor is required to disclose gifts valued at more than $500 in his annual economic interest statement, and his new filing covering 2013 lists gifts from five individuals. That's down from 12 in 2012 and 19 in 2011 . The most recent statement, which met the May 1 reporting deadline, includes gifts from those who've shown up on the form in the past.

Switching from helicopter to ground transport between two Texas hospitals cut the time heart attack patients had to wait to have their arteries unblocked by more than half an hour, according to a new study. "What we showed in our study was by tweaking our system, in this case by changing our mode of transportation from air to ground, we actually took median treatment time from about 121 minutes beforehand to 90 minutes afterward," Dr. Timothy Mixon told Reuters Health in a phone call.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on May 7 to discuss funding of the country's surface transportation systems, including a $302 billion, four-year bill proposed by the Obama administration, the committee's chairman said on Wednesday. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is the sole witness listed so far. "The hearing will highlight the need to allocate more resources to underfunded areas of the nation's transportation system, including to programs that move freight, focus on safety, and concentrate on growing rail service," said Senator John Rockefeller, a Democrat of West Virginia.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal securities regulators are probing whether New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's administration improperly diverted funds from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for use on transport projects in New Jersey, the publication Main Justice reported on Friday. The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into New Jersey's use of up to $1.8 billion in tax-exempt bond financing from the Port Authority to fix a bridge and roadways feeding into the New Jersey side of the Holland Tunnel, Main Justice reported, citing unnamed sources.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's transport safety chief said on Thursday he was confident that debris picked up on a Western Australian beach this week had not come from the missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370. Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Martin Dolan told Australian Broadcasting Corp Radio that he was looking at detailed photographs of the debris taken by the police. (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Chris Reese)

RIO DE JANEIRO - In 50 days, the best athletes in the world's most popular sport will convene in Brazil, one of soccer's sacred spiritual homes, for the game's most important tournament. It will be a powerful, uplifting tribute to both the "beautiful game" Brazilians have shaped for decades and the new status of a confident, rising global power in Latin America. Locals and foreigners will marvel at shiny new stadiums and glide across the continent-sized country on upgraded infrastructure.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Logistical challenges to large-scale sea shipments within the Arctic Circle mean such trade will not be a near-term rival to existing routes, a senior Canadian official said on Tuesday. Insurance companies are beginning to weigh the hazards of sea traffic across waterways in northern Canada and investors are mulling the potential using Arctic trade routes, said Canadian Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt. "It is not imminent but it is possible," she said in Washington.